Losing That Extra Weight

Strategies for Successful Slimming

13 Follow Body Intelligence Tips (BITs)

Deepak Chopra, MD, author of several books including "perfect Health" says that how you eat is just as important as what you eat.

Ayurveda and Oriental Medicine teaches us that although eating food that tastes good is important, the other senses-sight, hearing, touch, and smell are equally important to ensure that you get optimum benefits. These senses send signals that make your body happy thus utilizing the mind- body connection.

For example, an attractive plate of food served steaming hot from the kitchen sends all the right signals to nourish the
doshas, but if you leave that plate on the table for five hours, it will be unfit to eat, despite the fact that its raw nutrients have not significantly changed.

Chopra says that "your whole body is tremendously alert while you are eating. Your stomach cells are aware of the conversation at the dinner table, and if they hear harsh words, the stomach will knot with distress. Then everything you digest at that meal will be affected, because you have taken in indigestible sounds. Your stomach cells cannot literally hear, but the brain, taking in what the ears hear , sends out chemical messages to update the stomach and every other organ. So you cannot fool any part of your digestive tract into thinking that a tense meal is a happy one; your "gut feelings" know better."

Chopra has come up with sixteen tips, he calls BITs or Body Intelligence Tips. He says that these tips when followed, will ensure that every cell in your body is nourished completely. When you nourish your cells completely, they will reward you with ojas, the perfect expression of their satisfaction.

As you follow the BITs, according to Chopra, "you will be surprised at how much more enjoyment ever meal can give you. Your body can bubble with joy after every breakfast, lunch, and dinner, once you know the secret of turning food into
ojas."